Expulsion is not just about poverty. It's also about races – and Virginia proves it.

What happens during an eviction could not be easier: a tenant does not have the money to make a rent, so the landlord gives him the boot. However, new research complicates the picture of displacement in America. It's not just about poverty. It is also a question of race. This is the impressive conclusion of Virginia Commonwealth University researchers who published a report in the fall that found that the rates of eviction in minority communities are disproportionately high. Across the state, about 60 percent of African American neighborhoods have an annual clean-up rate of more than 10 percent of households – about four times the national average – even after poverty control and income levels. In Richmond, where eviction rates of more than 33 percent were recorded in some areas, the results were even clearer. For every 10% increase in the proportion of African Americans, the evacuation rate increases by 1.2%. However, when the white population increases at the same rate, the evacuation rate shrinks by 0.9 percent. "This is about understanding the 'why'," said Benjamin Teresa, an assistant professor at VCU, who led the research and co-founded a think tank at the university to investigate the eviction of the state. "Why are [evictions] more focused on parts of the state and cities? "The research is coming in the wake of increasing attention for expulsions in Virginia, triggered by a comprehensive analysis by Princeton University researchers published in April, which found that the clearing rate of the state of 5.1 percent is twice as high as the national average data from 2016. In Virginia, some cities have the highest urban rates in the country. The study, led by Pulitzer Prize-winning sociologist Matthew Desmond at the Princeton Eviction Lab, found that half of the country's 10 largest clearing cities were in Virginia. The medium-sized cities included three of the top five in the state. Of all the major cities, Richmond had the second highest evacuation rate. In 2016, 11.4 percent of tenants were displaced, resulting in more than 6,300 vacancies. The question then asked was, "What's wrong with Virginia?" Asked Kathryn Howell, one of the VCU researchers, who investigated the role of the breed in expulsions. The answer, proponents of housing and theorists of scientists, may be in a combination of circumstances that highlight Virginia in the region. These include a low state minimum wage of $ 7.25, concentrated poverty, less social services, less housing and fewer tenant organizations, and laws that proponents believe are landlords. In Virginia, it can take up to six weeks for a person to be evicted after being late with the rent. Tenants are not guaranteed legal representation. And unlike in Washington with a clearing rate of 2.6 percent, there is no rental control. By comparison, Maryland is also a landlord-friendly state, but has a higher minimum wage of $ 10.10, less poverty, and an eviction rate of 3.6 percent. Then there is the issue of race, which according to research is a factor in displacement across the country. The Princeton analysis found that the displacement was most concentrated in the southeast, with its large historic African-American population, and especially in counties with large black communities. A housing list survey of 41,000 responses last year found that blacks were more than twice as likely to be evicted than white households after being inspected for education. When Teresa began to rub in Richards Evires data, it was not clear what he would find. The first startling discovery came when he saw that Richmond's poorest pockets were not the highest-clearing locations, challenging explanations that other Richmond real estate experts had offered. Something beyond poverty, he thought, was at work. "It was definitely surprising," he said. "It solved the puzzle. , , , It's not just about poverty. According to Teresa and other experts, the results are understandable through the prism of history: patterns of residential segregation brought African-Americans to certain neighborhoods. Discriminatory credit practices made it difficult for African Americans to buy a home and then build up equity to pass on to future generations. Richmond's absolutely poorest lives in public housing, where the public housing authority has levied eviction suits against 25 percent of residents. However, the eviction rate continues to increase in private homes, often controlled by companies that have almost automated the evacuation process and immediately take somebody to court for overdue rent. Then there are simple prejudices, said Marty Wegbreit, process director of the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society in Richmond. Wegbreit has witnessed the interplay of race and eviction at work. He spent 24 years in Southwest Virginia, where there is just as much poverty, in the mountain caves and coal fields as everywhere in the state. The only difference, however, is that it is white poverty. For example, Buchanan County, which is 96 percent white and 25 percent poor, has an eviction rate of less than 1 percent, according to Eviction Lab. "Many people do not want to talk about the breed question, but we will do it," said Wegbreit. "White people simply have a deeper bank, more access to wealth than black and brown people. , , , And there is an unconscious conviction: "We can let the white people slip. They will be good for that. And the blacks, not because they are not good for it. "Others worry about the consequences, however, when the conversation over Virginia's high evacuation rates jams in the difficult terrain of race and discrimination. "People are closing when you talk about running races in this state, which is unfortunate," said Christie Marra, a lawyer at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, who leads a campaign to reduce displacement. "But you have to look at what happened before: who owns houses and who rents them and how did we get here?" Therefore, Teresa is now pushing for more information and is likely to publish an additional report this year, performing a more detailed analysis of race and eviction in the state. "There are very poor parts of the state that may not have that high evacuation rates," he said. "Why should that be?"